Checking out Gamine on Union Street

I went to a little French restaurant on Union near Fillmore that has four or five seats at the counter overlooking over the kitchen, and another 30 or so in the storefront dining room. It’s called Gamine, a place that a friend has been lobbying me to go to for the last couple of months.

I’ve been picking the brains of all my friends recently because I decided to try a restaurant I’ve never been to every week for the next year.

Gamine is a very personal restaurant in a commercial neighborhood of commercial restaurants such as Cafe des Amis and Betelnut. Compared to those, this is more like a small family operation with quality food.

It’s noisy as all hell but the food and the service were both good. What really impressed me was the willingness of people to wait for a table. Since they take no reservations and it’s such a small place, there’s no place to wait for a table. The guy says come back in an hour, and you come back.

The menu is classic French — but there are such things as four kinds of burgers made of either beef, chicken, fish or vegetables ($12). There are also items like onion soup gratinee ($7.50) and baked Cambozola ($11.50); I stuck with a salad of roasted beets and green beans ($9) with goat cheese. Main courses include things like a lamb stew Provencale ($19.50), roast chicken with lemon and thyme ($18) and sauteed tilapia ($18) with garlic spinach, tomatoes and beurre blanc.

Rather that deciphering their wine list, I just told them a price range — and they produced it.